same paternal spirit which sent shiploads of virtuous young women
(sometimes _marchandises mêlées_) to the St. Lawrence to become wives
of the forlorn Canadian bachelors, gave trousseaux of cattle and
kitchen utensils to the newly wed, and encouraged by bounties the
production of children. The seigniories were the ground on which these
paternal methods of creating a farming community were to be developed,
but despite the wise intentions of the government the whole machinery
was far from realizing the results which might reasonably have been
expected from its operation. The land was easily acquired and cheaply
held, facilities were given for the grinding of grain and the making
of flour; fish and game were quickly taken by the skilful fisherman
and enterprising hunter, and the royal officials generally favoured
the _habitants_ in disputes with the seigniors.

Unlike the large grants made by the British government after the
conquest to loyalists, Protestant clergy, and speculators--grants
calculated to keep large sections of the country in a state of
wildness--the seigniorial estates had to be cultivated and settled
within a reasonable time if they were to be retained by the occupants.
During the French dominion the Crown sequestrated a number of
seigniories for the failure to observe the obligation of cultivation.
As late as 1741 we find an ordinance restoring seventeen estates to
the royal domain, although the Crown was ready to reinstate the former
occupants the moment they showed that they intended to perform their
duty of settlement. But all the care that was taken to encourage
settlement was for a long time without large results, chiefly in
consequence of the nomadic habits of the young men on the seigniories.
The fur trade, from the beginning to the end of French dominion, was a
serious bar to steady industry on the farm. The young _gentilhomme_ as
well as the young _habitant_ loved the free life of the forest and